Property tax in Aix-les-Bains in 2026: the town that does not surcharge its second homes

1. What is the property tax rate in Aix-les-Bains in 2026 ?

A property tax notice does not show one rate but a stack of lines, voted by different authorities. The town decides only its own, which remains by far the heaviest.

2. Why does your notice rise when the municipal rate does not move ?

The property tax is a base multiplied by a rate. The town controls only the rate, and it has held it. The base is the cadastral rental value of your home divided by two : a theoretical rent set by the tax administration, indexed to inflation each year.

The table below shows the gap. Over four tax years, the municipal line has not moved by a hundredth of a point, while the overall rate on the property tax share has gone from 36,28 % to 38,45 %, and the base by about 14 %.

The 2026 rate falls to the city council elected in March, when the initial budget is voted. The 2025 budget was presented with unchanged tax rates and 13 million euros of investment, in line with previous years. Nothing at this stage points to a break, but the final figure will be read in the council minutes, not in a statement of intent.

3. Why does Aix-les-Bains not surcharge its second homes ?

This is the most singular feature of taxation in Aix-les-Bains, and it goes largely unnoticed. Increasing the residence tax on second homes is a lever open to municipalities in tight housing markets. Aix-les-Bains is one of them : it is that classification which places it within the scope of the tax on vacant homes, as the DGFiP register of 2026 resolutions shows.

In other words, the town could pass such a resolution. It does not, year after year, while its neighbours make use of it.

The paradox is plain. The two municipalities that apply the steepest increase are the ones with the fewest second homes, and the one with the most applies nothing. In Chambéry, 3,4 % of the stock is concerned ; in Aix-les-Bains, more than fifteen per cent, or about one home in seven.

One caveat : nothing sets this situation in stone. The increase is decided by a simple resolution of the city council, taking effect the following year. A new term begins in 2026. The subject may come back.

4. Where does the Aix rate sit within the Alpine corridor ?

The table compares municipal rates alone, that is the line each city council votes, so as to compare like with like. The overall rate shown on the notice also depends on the inter-municipal authority, which varies widely from one area to another.

The gap with Chambéry is worth underlining, because the two towns adjoin one another and many buyers weigh them against each other. At an equal rental value, the property tax share is about eight points lighter in Aix-les-Bains, before even taking into account the absence of a surcharge on second homes.

To broaden the comparison, you can read our analyses of the property tax in Annecy, of the situation in Grenoble and of the cut voted in Nice.

5. How much do you pay depending on your home ?

The reconstructions below are anchored on real areas of Aix-les-Bains. Two homes of the same floor area in the same street can show noticeably different rental values depending on their condition and their features.

These four profiles rest on areas with very different realities. The average price of an apartment in Aix-les-Bains stands at 4 291 €/m² in 2026 (DVF data, the French database of notarised property sales, processed by Immover, 2024-2025 transactions), with a marked gap between Bord du Lac, at 5 246 €/m², and Saint-Simond, at 3 521 €/m². The cadastral rental value, for its part, does not follow that market gap : it remains anchored on scales from 1970 that are regularly reindexed.

6. Simulator : what the surcharge would cost you

7. What impact on the value of your property ?

Three observations to place the real effect of taxation on your property.

1. The cost of holding weighs more heavily on a property not occupied all year. The owner of a second home pays the property tax and the residence tax without receiving any rent. It is precisely that profile the increase targets elsewhere, and it is the one that benefits most from the Aix choice.

2. The gap with neighbouring towns runs into hundreds of euros a year. On a comparable property, the difference between Aix-les-Bains and Chambéry combines eight points of property tax rate and a 60 % increase on the residence tax. Over a holding period of ten or fifteen years, that is no longer a detail.

3. The area always weighs more than the rate. Between Bord du Lac and Saint-Simond, the price gap per m² goes above 1 700 €. No municipal tax decision produces an effect of that size on the value of a property.

To place your home precisely, see our dedicated page on property prices per m² in Aix-les-Bains, set out district by district from actual transactions. If you let a furnished property, our analysis of furnished tourist rentals in Aix-les-Bains rounds out the picture.